Businessweek

. Products include a range of high and ultra-high vacuum pumps (diffusion, turbomolecular and ion getter), intermediate vacuum pumps (rotary vane, sorption and dry scroll), vacuum instrumentation (vacuum control instruments, sensor gauges and meters) and vacuum components (valves, flanges and other mechanical hardware). These products also include helium mass spectrometry and helium-sensing leak detection instruments used to identify and measure leaks in hermetic or vacuum environments. In addition to product sales, the company offers a range of services including an exchange and rebuild program, assistance with the design and integration of vacuum systems, applications support and training in basic and advanced vacuum technologies. Consumables and Services: The company offers a range of consumable products, which support its technology platforms, including sample preparation consumables, such as solid phase extraction (SPE) and filtration products, self manufactured GC and LC columns, chemical standards, and instrument replacement parts. Consumable products also include scientific instrument parts and supplies, such as filters and fittings for GC systems; xenon lamps and cuvettes for UV-Vis-NIR, fluorescence, FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy instruments; and graphite furnace tubes, hollow cathode lamps and specialized sample introduction glassware for its AA, ICP-OES and ICP-MS products. The company offers a range of startup, operational, educational and compliance support services for its measurement and data handling systems. Its support services include maintenance, troubleshooting, repair and training for all of its chemical and bioinstrumentation analysis hardware and software products. Special service bundles have also been designed to meet the specific application needs of various industries. Chemical Analysis Customers The company had approximately 35,000 customers for its chemical analysis business in 2012. The chemical analysis business is susceptible to seasonality in its orders and revenues primarily based on U.S. government and large company budgets. The result is that its fourth fiscal quarter (year ended October 31, 2012) tends to deliver the strongest profits for this business. Chemical Analysis Sales, Marketing and Support The company markets products to its customers through direct sales, electronic commerce, resellers, manufacturers' representatives and distributors. It uses direct sales to market its solutions to its large- and medium-sized chemical customers and environmental accounts. Sales agents supplement direct sales by providing broader geographic coverage and coverage of smaller accounts. The company sells its consumable products through distributors, telesales, electronic commerce and direct sales. The company delivers its support services to customers in various ways, including on-site assistance with repair or exchange of returned products, telephone support and self-diagnostic services provided over the Internet. It also offers special industry-focused service bundles that are designed to meet the specific needs, including those for hydrocarbon processing and environmental customers to keep instruments fully operational and compliant with the respective industry requirements. Chemical Analysis Competition The company’s principal competitors in the chemical analysis arena include Bruker Corporation, PerkinElmer Inc., Shimadzu Corporation and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. DIAGNOSTICS AND GENOMICS BUSINESS This segment provides solutions that include reagents, instruments, software and consumables that enable customers in the clinical and life sciences research areas to interrogate samples at the molecular level. The company’s portfolio of offerings include immunohistochemistry (IHC), In Situ Hybridization (ISH), Hematoxylin and Eosin Staining, special staining, DNA mutation detection, genotyping, gene copy number determination, identification of gene rearrangements, DNA methylation profiling, gene expression profiling, as well as automated gel electrophoresis-based sample analysis systems. The company also collaborates with various major pharmaceutical compani